Pakistan announces one day of mourning on the passing away of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and Iran’s Foreign Minister in a tragic plane crash yesterday.
“Pakistan will observe a day of mourning and the flag will fly at half mast as a mark of respect for President Raisi and his companions and in solidarity with Brotherly Iran,” PM Shehbaz said in a statement on X, formerly Twitter.
“I along with the government and people of Pakistan extend our deepest condolences and sympathies to the Iranian nation on this terrible loss,” the premier said while praying for the martyred souls.
“The great Iranian nation will overcome this tragedy with customary courage,” the prime minister noted.
Intensive search and rescue operations began soon after the crash. Initial reports suggest bad weather is the reason for the crash. Other high officials who boarded the tragic plane included Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian, Iran’s East Azerbaijan Province Governor Malek Rahmati, and Ayatollah Mohammad Ali Ale-Hashem, the representative of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei to East Azerbaijan, according to state media.
President Ebrahim was returning from Iran’s border with Azerbaijan, where he and the Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev had inaugurated a cooperative dam project. The news first circulated on social media, which was later picked up by the local media and then the international media.
According to the initial reports, the plane fell in the Dizmir, a protected wildlife corridor across the border with Azerbaijan.
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A month ago, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi had visited Pakistan. Upon his arrival in Lahore, Iranian President Seyyed Ebrahim Raisi expressed his desire to address a public gathering during his ongoing three-day official visit to Pakistan.
Although he wished to speak at a public event, President Raisi stated that it wasn’t feasible due to certain reasons. Instead, he visited the mausoleum of Allama Muhammad Iqbal in Lahore to honor the “poet of the East.”